Caption: First animal in space. Laika, the bitch who became the first animal in space, inside a mock-up of the cabin of the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft. Sputnik 2 was launched on 3 November 1957. Laika (meaning "Barker" or "Husky") was contained within a sealed cabin with a food store and an air conditioner. Soviet propaganda at the time maintained that she survived for around a week, but in fact she died after just a few hours due to overheating and panic. The spacecraft was not designed to be recovered and it burnt up as it re- entered the atmosphere on 14 April 1958, 162 days after its launch. Still image from the documentary film First Soviet Satellites of the Earth.